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Gerald Early
|birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |death_date = |death_place = |death_cause = |known_for = American literature, African-American culture, non-fiction prose |alma_mater = Cornell University University of Pennsylvania |employer = Washington University in St. Louis |occupation = professor, author |spouse = Ida Early (1977–present) |signature = |website = Faculty page for Gerald Early at Washington University in St. Louis |footnotes = }} Gerald Lyn Early (born April 21, 1952) is an African-American poet, academic, essayist, and culture critic. Life Youth and education Early was born April 21, 1952 in Philadelphia, the son of Henry Early and Florence Fernandez Oglesby. His father, a baker, died when Early was 9 months old, leaving his mother (a preschool teacher) to raise him and his 2 sisters on her own. Living in a poor area of the city, Early grew up befriending members of the Fifth and the South Street gangs, though he never became a member himself. Instead he focused on scholarly pursuits, entering the University of Pennsylvania. During Early's undergraduate years, he was introduced to the writings of Amiri Baraka and later credited the poet and playwright with influencing his own work. Early developed much of his writing style through involvement with the university newspaper. Ironically, his first major piece was a journalistic foray into the gang-related murder of a cousin.Answers.com Profile of Gerald Early Early earned a B.A., graduating cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974. Early returned to Philadelphia, where he became employed by the city government. He also spent 6 months monitoring gang activities through the Crisis Intervention Network before resuming his course work at Cornell University, where he eventually earned a doctorate in English literature in 1982. Career Early landed his earliest teaching job as an assistant professor of black studies at St. Louis's Washington University in 1982. He would steadily rise to a full professorship in both the English and the renamed African and Afro-American studies departments by 1990.Answers.com Ibid Early is the Merle King professor of modern letters, and also teaches English, African studies, African American studies, and American culture studiesHe is also a director of the Center for Joint Projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Washington University.Washington University Faculty Page: Gerald L. Early: Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1119/profile.html He also served as a consultant on Ken Burns' documentary films Baseball, Jazz, '' '' Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, '' and The War''. He is a regular commentator on National Public Radio's Fresh Air. His essays have appeared in numerous editions of Best American Essays series. He writes on topics as diverse as American literature, the Korean War, African American culture, Afro-American autobiography, non-fiction prose, baseball, jazz, prizefighting, Motown, Miles Davis, Muhammad Ali and Sammy Davis Jr.Washington University Faculty Page. Ibid Private life On August 27, 1977, Early married Ida Haynes, a college administrator. They have 2 children, Linnet Kristen Haynes Early and Rosalind Lenora Haynes Early. Recognition In 1988, Early's collections of essays, Tuxedo Junction, was awarded the $25,000 Giles Whiting Writer's Prize. Early won the 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award for his essay collection, The Culture of Bruising: Essays on prizefighting, literature, and modern American culture.Gerald Early, Time Being Books. Web, Sep. 4, 2018. He has been nominated for the Grammy Award Best Album Notes twice: in 2001 for Yes I Can! The Sammy Davis Jr. story and in 2002 for Rhapsodies in Black: Music and words from the Harlem Renaissance. On September 5, 2007, Early was honored by Washington University with the unveiling of a portrait painted by Jamie Adams which hangs in the Journals Reading Room of the university's Olin Library. In 2013 Early was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Publications Poetry *''How the War in the Streets Is Won: Poems on the Quest of Love and Faith'' (Time Being Books, 1995) (poetry) Non-fiction *''Tuxedo Junction: Essays on American Culture'' (1989) *''Life with Daughters:Watching the Miss America Pageant (1990)'' *''The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature, and Modern American Culture'' (1994) *''Daughters: On Family and Fatherhood'' (1994) (memoir) *''One Nation Under a Groove: Motown & American Culture'' (1994) (music history) Edited *''Lure and Loathing: Essays on Race, Identity and the Ambivalence of Assimilation'' (1993) *''Ain't But a Place: An Anthology of African American Writings About St. Louis'' (1998) *''Body Language: Writers on Sport'' (1998) *''The Muhammad Ali Reader'' (1998) *''Miles Davis and American Culture'' (2001) *''The Sammy Davis, Jr. Reader'' (2001) *Black America in the 1960s'' (2003)'' *''My Soul's High Song: The Collected Writings of Countee Cullen''(1991) *''Speech and Power: The African-American Essay in Its Cultural Content''(1993) See also *African-American poets *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Books *Gerald Early at Amazon.com ;About *Gerald Early at Time Being Books *Faculty page for Gerald Early at Washington University in St. Louis *Washington University Faculty Page *Gerald Early. What Is African-American Literature? America. gov. 05 February 2009 *Extensive interview Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty Category:African-American writers Category:African-American studies scholars Category:African-American academics Category:People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:American music critics Category:African-American poets Category:Cornell University alumni Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:American cultural critics Category:American poets Category:English-language poets Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:American academics